[southernsunshine]

Why did Lincoln invade Virginia?

[BroJoeK]

southernsunshine: "Why did Lincoln invade Virginia?"

Here is a summary of that sequence of events:

1. November 6, 1860: Lincoln elected President.

2. November 10, 1860: South Carolina called for a secession convention.

3. November 13, 1860: South Carolina legislature authorized raising an army of 10,000.

4. December 20, 1860: South Carolina declared secession.

5. December 27, 1860: in its first major act of military aggression, South Carolina forces seized Federal fort Moultrie and Castle Pinckney.
   In coming weeks, dozens more Federal facilities will be seized throughout the Deep & Upper South.

6. January 9, 1861 in its first act of serious violence against Federal officials, South Carolina's new army fired on President Buchanan's resupply ship Star of the West.
   In coming weeks there will be several more incidents of violence or threats against Union officials, but no deaths.
   No Confederate action before Fort Sumter will cause a major Union response.

7. March 3, 1861: Confederate President Davis ordered preparations to assault Fort Sumter.

8. March 4, 1861: Abraham Lincoln inaugurated President.

9. March 6, 1861: Confederate Congress authorized 100,000 man army.

10. April 12, 1861: the Confederacy started Civil War by launching a military assault on Federal forces in Fort Sumter.
    Sumter surrendered, and no deaths resulted directly from battle.

11. April 15, 1861: in response, Lincoln called for 75,000 US troops to:
    "...re-possess the forts, places, and property which have been seized from the Union; and in every event, the utmost care will be observed, consistently with the objects aforesaid, to avoid any devastation, any destruction of, or interference with, property, or any disturbance of peaceful citizens in any part of the country."

12. April 17, 1861: President Jefferson Davis requested applications for Confederate letters of marque and reprisal, to provide a force of naval privateers.

13. April 19, 1861: as a result, Lincoln ordered a blockade of Southern naval ports.

14. April 23, 1861: President Davis offered military aid for Confederate forces operating in the Union state of Missouri.
    US military officers in Texas captured and treated as POWs.

15. April 29, 1861: Confederate Congress authorized war powers for Jefferson Davis.

16. May 3, 1861: Lincoln called for 42,000 more troops bringing the Union total to 156,000.

17. May 6, 1861: Confederate Congress passed and Davis signed declaration of war on the United States.

18. May 9, 1861: Davis authorized adding 400,000 troops to the Confederate army, requested six warships be purchased abroad.

19. May 23, 1861: Virginia voters ratified secession, joined the Confederacy and in doing so, its declared war on the United States.

20. June 10, 1861: First major battle resulting in a Confederated army death at Big Bethel, near Newport News, Virginia.

So, the short answer to why did Lincoln "invade" Virginia, is: because Virginia and its Confederacy declared war on the United States.